Shock therary apparatus



March 1957 R. ESNAULT-PELTERIE 2,785,680

suocx THERAPY APPARATUS Filed April 10, 1953 United States Patent 6 F SHOCK THERAPY APPARATUS Robert Esnault-Pelterie, Geneva, Switzerland, assignor to Spladis Societe pour lApplication dlnventions Scientifiques, Luxemburg, Grand Duchy of Luxemhurg, a Luxemburg company Application April 10, 1953, Serial No. 347,895

Claims priority, application Great Britain November 26, 1952 9 Claims. (Cl. 128-419) The present invention relates to an apparatus which is particularly designed for the treatment of nervous diseases by electric shock therapy, in which treatment, as known, electric impulses are applied to the patient.

It has already been proposed to use, for this purpose, apparatus including an electric impulse generator comprising a condenser which is successively charged and discharged. Such apparatus require very quick charging of the capacity and hence a high output source; as a result, a casual disturbance can give rise to such a current or power as may cause injury to the patient or even imperil his life.

An apparatus is also known, which comprises one or two condensers or groups of condensers adapted to be connected to a charging device, then disconnected therefrom and connected to a discharge circuit, the impulses applied to the patient being obtained by means of a vibrating device which periodically makes and breaks the discharge circuit of the condenser or condensers. Such an apparatus presents a drawback: the voltage applied to the patient rapidly decreases with consecutive impulses. Furthermore, there still exists the danger that one of the condensers gets accidentally discharged at one time, for instance owing to jamming of the vibrator and it is known that the human system cannot bear, in a single discharge, an application of electric energy which, if divided and spaced in time, would be easily withstood.

An object of the present invention is to provide an etlicacious, reliable electro-medical apparatus in which all these dangers are eliminated.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus capable of applying to the patient a predetermined number of electric impulses having conveniently the same direction and well determined magnitude, duration and frequency.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a light, compact apparatus which is easily carried and handled and of moderate cost.

According to the present invention, an apparatus designed for applying to the patient a rapid sequence of electric impulses obtained by discharging condensers which are cut off from the source after being charged, is characterised in that it comprises a number of condensers or groups of condensers equal to the number of impulses to be applied, the said condensers or groups of condensers, each of which supplies one impulse only, being so arranged as to be successively discharged through a circuit of application which includes the patient.

This apparatus avoids all the above mentioned dangers. In fact, every condenser or group of condensers accurately stores up the amount of energy which it must supply to the patient and, whatever the disturbance liable to occur may be, the patient can never receive more than the predetermined amount.

Moreover, the apparatus allows of pro-adjusting the amount of electrical energy to be applied and of controlling with great accuracy the other determining facp we tors for the treatment viz. the number of impulses, their magnitude, their duration and their frequency.

Preliminary researches undertaken by the applicant have enabled him to bring out the following optimum treatment conditions.

The number of impulses is comprised between twelve below which value the eflicacy of the treatment is no longer ensuredand thirty-six.

The number of condensers or groups of condensers of the apparatus will therefore be comprised between twelve and thirty-six inclusive and, preferably, between twenty and thirty, which range yields the best results.

The voltage of the direct current charging the condensers should be comprised between 300 volts and 2500 volts, each group of condensers having a capacity smaller than 4 rnicro-farads. Furthermore, the resistance of the circuit of application excluding that of the patient which varies between 100 and 400 ohms, should be as small as possible, conveniently smaller than 5 ohms for instance. This makes it possible to obtain very short impulses and applying a well determined amount of electrical energy, the value of which does not depend upon the electrical resistance of the patient.

The frequency of the impulses should be greater than 60, favorable results having been obtained at per second, and it is presumed that frequencies of lOO/sec. and even more are of the favorable range, though frequencies beyond an upper limit which I am about to determine by searches which are not yet finished, seem to cause constant reappearance of the above mentioned tonic phase.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood, reference is made to the accompanying drawing which illustrates by way of example an embodiment of the invention and in which:

The single figure shows, in a diagrammatic form, an apparatus according to the invention, in the particular case where all the impulses have the same direction.

In the embodiment shown, the apparatus comprises twenty-four condensers (or groups of condensers) C1 to C24, one plate of which is connected to a common conductor 1 extending between one of the terminals B1 of a direct current source, for instance a rectifier R, and one of the electrodes E1 designed to be applied on the patient. All the condensers have conveniently the same capacity.

The second plate of each condenser is connected, on the one hand, to a stud P1 to P24 respectively of a distributor 2 having a movablearm 2a rotating about an axle 2b and, on the other hand, to a stud 11 to 124 respectively of a charging switch I, the contact levers L1 to L24 of which are connected to the other terminal B2 of the rectifier R, through a resistance r such that the time constant of the charging circuit is greater than two seconds.

The arm 2a is connected to the second electrode E2 designed to be applied on the patient who is diagrammatically indicated as a resistance P. The apparatus thus constructed is arranged so as to supply discharges of same direction and the electrodes E1 and E2 conveniently bear polarity marks.

The arm 2:: is driven by a driving device 3 of any convenient kind, for instance an electric motor or a step-by-step relay automatically actuated and stopped.

The rectifier R is preferably arranged so as to enable to use at least three voltages of different values. In the example illustrated, it is fed, from the ordinary supply mains D, through a transformer T associated with an adjustable impedance such as a coil S which makes it possible to vary the primary voltage in order to adjust the charging voltage between the limiting values of 300 with the supply mains.

locking device which may be of any kind, has been dia grammatically shown in' the drawing as a stop *4 connected to the switch I through a linkage 5.

Further safety is provided by a contact device for switching off the apparatus from, thetmains as soon as the arm 2a leaves its inoperative position and before it reaches the first stud of the distributor. In the example illustrated, this device includes an arm integral with arm 2a and conveniently carrying two insulated spring blades such as 2d, each closing a contact on one of the wires 6 or" the mains, when the arm 2a is in the shown inoperative position. For the sake of clarity of the drawing, only one spring 2d has beenindicated.

The apparatus operates as follows:

At rest, the arm 2a is in the position shown in the draw- 7 ing, in which the electrode E2 is switched off from the condensers and the apparatus, as a whole, is connected On closing the, charging switch I, the condensers C1 to C24 are connected in parallel with the rectifier R which simultaneously charges them at the predetermined voltage.

During the charging of the condensers, the resistance r limits the charging current and thereby permits the use of a smaller and henceiless expensive rectifier.

The switch I, thus being pushed to the right simultaneously locks the arm 2a in its inoperative position.

The switch I is then op'enedythe condensers which are thus cut from the charging source, keep the charge they have received, and the arm 2:: is unlocked.

When the movable arm 2;: of the distributor is actuated in the direction of the arrow 1, the apparatus is first cut off from the supply mains, then the condensers are successively connected to the discharge circuit which includes the patient P; the latter therefore receives the twcnty-four successive impulses discharged by the condensers.

The frequency of the impulses is determined by the rotation speed of the movable arm 2a of the distributor 2.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the preferred embodiment shown by way of example in the drawings. For example, each of the condensers may be replaced by a group of two or more condensers. The term condenser is accordingly herein used to mean a single condenser or a group of condensers. modifications within the scope of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

l. In electro-medical apparatus designed to apply to a patient a rapid sequence of electric impulses, a number of condensers corresponding to the number of impulses to be applied, means for connectingsaid condensers to an appropriate source of electrical energy for charging the condensers and thereafter disconnecting said condensers from said source, a discharge circuit comprising electrodes adapted to be applied to the patient to include said patient in said discharge circuit and a distributor having a movable element that is movable from an initial inoperative position to successive operative positions in which it successively connects said condensers to said electrodes, each of said condensers being connected to said electrodes only once during the movement of said distributor element,

thereby applying to said electrodes a rapid sequence of impulses with one impulse from each of said condensers.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which the number of condensers is between 12 and 36.

3. In electro-medical apparatus designedto apply to a patient a rapid sequence of electric impulses, a plurality of condensers, each having two terrninals,;a source of direct. current having two terminals, two electrodes Still other adapted to be applied to the patient, a conductor extending between one of said electrodes and one terminal of said direct current source, means connecting one terminal of each of said condensers with said conductor, a plurality of charging switches equal in number to said con densers, a distributor having a plurality of contact studs equal in number to said condensers, means connecting the second terminal of each of said condensers with one side of one of said switches and with one of said studs, means connecting the opposite sides of all of said'switches with the secondterminal of said direct'current source, and means including said distributor for successively connecting said distributor studs to the second of said electrodes to discharge said condensers successively'through the patient. i V 4. Apparatus according to claim 3, in which the distributor provides a discharge frequency between and per second. 7

5. Apparatus according to claim 3, in which the distributor comprises a rotary member driven at an adjustable speed.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, in which said rotary member is driven by an electric motor.

7. Apparatus according to claim 5, in which the rotary member of the distributor is driven by a step-by-step reiay.

8. Apparatus according to claim 3, in which means are provided for locking the distributor against operation and means interconnecting said charging switches and locking means to lock said distributor when the charging switches are closed.

9. In electro-medical apparatus designed to apply to a patient a rapid sequence of electric impulses, a plurality of condensers, each having two terminals, charging means providing direct current for charging said condens crs and having two direct current terminals, means including a switch for connecting saidcharging means with a power supply, two electrodes adapted to be applied to the patient, means connecting one terminal of each of said condensers to terminal of said charging means and to one of said electrodes, switch means for connecting the second terminal of each of said condensers to the second terminal of said charging means to charge the condensers and for thereafter disconnecting said second terminals of the condensers from said charging means, a distributor having a movable element that is movable from an initial inoperative position to successive operative positions in which it successively connects said second terminals of said condensers to the second of said electrodes, and means interconnecting the switch in the connections between said charging means and a power 7 supply to open said last mentioned switch when the movable element of the distributor moves from said initial inoperative position. 7

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

